"So…shall we go in?"

"That depends. Are you actually going to move your legs?"

This exchange summed up the current experience Kai and Emerald were having on their prom night. Standing just outside of the ballroom for at the very minimum five minutes. Muffled music could be heard escaping from the inside, alongside light beaming out of the wall sized windows. What would normally be inviting, was to these two vey taunting.

"Yeah I'm just…" Kai took a deep breath of fresh air. "Getting in the zone."

"The zone huh? Well I'd much rather you get in the building. I'm starting to get cold." Emerald insisted. Her eyes gazed down where she caught the sight of a scroll shaped object inside Kai's back trouser pocket. "If you're getting second thoughts, then maybe its best we turn around. Head back to our rooms."

Emerald distracted Kai with idle chit chat while she carefully went to pickpocket the information storing device. However, when her fingernails were inches away from the pocket, Kai began to turn around forcing Emerald to quickly retract her hand.

"No! I mean I did say I was gonna come with you and I will." Kai said to Emerald's face. "My mind was just a little distracted. But I'm fine now, let's go in, for real this time."

Kai walked forward, leading Emerald toward the party. She looked back at him with a false smile that once Kai looked away deformed into a silent groan. Kai pushed open the doors, letting himself and Emerald in to be blasted by the dense ballroom atmosphere. Random students were schmoozing around. Dr Oobleck was currently holding a drink and listening intently to Port who was laughing over some unheard anecdote. And Ozpin stood off to the side with Goodwitch until General Ironwood tapped her on the shoulder, offering his hand up for a dance. A hand which after rolling her eyes Goodwitch accepted.

At her podium Yang watched the two walk in with a smirk. "Well, well, well, look who finally showed up."

Kai awkwardly smiled. "Sorry for being late."

"Eh, you're just being fashionable." Yang waved the apology off with her hand, when Emerald walked up to greet her. "So, you're the special someone who asked Kai out."

"Don't tell me. You're going to question my choice in men too." Emerald remarked.

"Nah, I get it. He's not my type, but I can see why you'd go for him." Yang eyeballed the nervous Kai. "Hey Kai. Why don't you get you and your date here some punch?"

"Punch?" Kai asked, getting Yang to gesture behind herself with her thumb pointed to a table with a large bowl of cheap, fruity liquid. "Oh. Punch, gotcha." He looked turned his head to Emerald. "I'll be right back."

Kai walked off, nervously looking over his shoulder at his date and his female friend, getting the feeling that there was something amiss. All alone Emerald and Yang observed Kai anxiously making his way to the other side of the room.

"Let me guess. You warded him off so you could give me some warning about breaking his heart or something?" Emerald assumed.

"Something like that." Yang looked at Emerald directly in the eye. "Look I get that Kai can seem a little-"

"Socially clueless." Emerald bluntly finished.

"Basically. But he's only like that because he's trying so hard to make you happy." Yang rested her arm on the podium. "Look I don't really want to go into this but Kai…he could really use something special like this after all he's been through. So just try and give him a good night. But not too good though, pretty sure anything more than holding hands will make his head explode."

It took all of Emerald's willpower not to make some sarcastic remark at Kai's expense. The fact that the people all around him were so encouraging…it only made her want to vomit.

"I'll be sure to keep that in mind. He seems lucky to have a friend like you." Emerald said through her teeth, fighting back the bile.

Emerald's smile faded when she saw something behind Yang or rather someone. In between the people going back and forth, she could see Mercury on his own looking straight at her. The look on serious look on his face calling him over, and reminding her that this wasn't just a night off.


In front of the punch bowl, Ruby stood pensively on her own with a cup of punch in her left hand. Jaune suddenly sidestepped into view on her left, wearing an identical outfit to Mercury but with red highlights and a red bow tie.

Jaune leant in closer holding a glass of punch in his right hand. "I see you're hiding at the punch bowl too."

"Yep." Ruby replied, making a popping sound.

Jaune tilted his glass towards Ruby. "To the socially awkward."

Ruby smiled and clinked glasses with Jaune. As she did the two were approached by Robin who casually picked up some punch. Jaune looked at Robin, feeling his jaw drop at the sight of her in a dress.

"Robin, you look-"

Robin stared daggers at Jaune. "Say one more derogatory word about my appearance and I will feed you to Tyrantrum and use whatever's left of you as berry mulch."

Jaune stiffly backed off. "Just as terrifying as usual."

"Why thank you." Robin smirked as she took a sip of punch, her face scrunching up. "Blech! Even the worst grown berries back home would make better tasting punch than this cheap crap."

Ruby looked over Robin's shoulder at her glass. "Sooo…can I have it?"

"Knock yourself out." Robin unenthusiastically shoved her cup into Ruby's hand. Ruby happily began downing the party beverage, giving Robin a chance to speak with Jaune. "I take it things didn't go well with that girl you were talking about."

Jaune glumly looked down. "You could say that. She preferred someone else."

"Well at least you put yourself out there, that's better than most people." Robin frowned, thinking about all of her failed actions. "Not like that changes anything though."

"Meh it's fine. Neptune's pretty cool. I get why she went with him."

Ruby finished Robin's punch and looked at Jaune curiously. "What do you mean?"

"Well, come on, not many people can pull off blue hair." Jaune answered, as he took a drink of his own punch.

"No, I mean Weiss came to the dance alone."

At that statement some of Jaune's punch went home and he started to choke. He raised his free arm over his mouth and he coughed into it before swiftly turning to Ruby. "Uh, what?"

On the other side of the room Weiss was desperately trying to straighten a wilting white rose. It remained straight for a moment but collapsed under the weight of its own flower, her failure visibly making her upset.

"Yeah, she said that she had too much to focus on to worry about boys." Ruby explained.

Laughter drew Weiss' attention to Sun and Blake being entertained by Neptune who was dressed in another black tux with orange highlights and an orange bowtie. He performed a series of impressions and silly faces, that even made himself barely control his own laughter. A sight which visible perturbed Jaune.

"Robin." Jaune growled, holding his beverage to the side. "Hold. My. Punch."

Robin grabbed the drink and Jaune walked away from the table into crowds of students. To make it across he pushed any students in his way and even some that weren't when a familiar face stopped him. Pyrrha dressed lavishly in a red, sleeveless, turtleneck dress, She didn't notice him as she morosely walked up a set of stairs to the upper levels of the ballroom, being watched by her partner. Jaune saw his partner glumly go up step by step and he stopped, undergoing a change of plan.

Unnoticed by him however was Kai who walked past him to arrive at the punch bowl table. Already looking emotionally weary despite the night having just started. Ruby and Robin exchanged concerned glances before walking up to him.

"So, you finally decided to walk in." Robin remarked.

"Now's not really the time Robin. I've already kept Emerald waiting, and Yang started talking about how I wasn't her type but was still desirable. And I'm not sure whether that's a compliment or an insult." Kai pulled against his collar. "Is it hot in here? Because it feels hot."

"Focus!" Robin snapped her fingers in front of Kai's face to regain his attention. "Even when my Pokémon are infatuated they have more dignity than you right now."

Ruby walked past Robin to get closer to Kai. "Well how come you were fine talking to me when we first met?"

"Because you were just some friendly eager girl trying to help." Kai pulled his hands away from his collar. "Also, you did most of the talking, Emerald just keeps asking me things and expecting me to answer. To be honest she gives me this odd vibe, like she's only pretending to like me and secretly wants to kill me."

"That sounds psychotic." Robin bluntly dismissed.

"I know but I can't help but think it. I just feel this pressure, this obligation to make her feel good. I can't help but overthink." Kai sighed. "Oh who am I kidding, this is my own problem. I appreciate both of you for helping but, neither of you can understand."

"What do you mean Kai, of course I understand. If someone asked me out tonight, I don't think I'd have the courage to even walk out my dorm. I mean look at me, I can't even walk straight in these shoes." Ruby nearly stumbled as she mentioned her footwear, immediately proving her point. "I was freaked out talking to you too but once we started chatting…well look at us now. Working on your weapon, studying at night, sitting at lunch. That's all you need."

"Yeah…Yeah! I think I know how I can finally relax around Emerald. Thanks Ruby." Kai turned to head back to find Emerald when he turned back to the punch bowl. "Oh wait, I told Emerald I was going to get her some pun-"

Robin shoved Jaune's punch into Kai's chest. "Take this. Get going. Have fun. Now."

"Did you drink out of this?" Kai pointed into the glass with his free hand.

Robin crossed her arms. "No. I have not drunk from that glass."

"Okay, then thank you too." Kai replied walking off and carefully making his way back to the podium.

Ruby sadly watched Kai go. "Aww. I wanted to drink that."

Robin just stared at Ruby with a look of complete disbelief. She finished watching Kai until he went out of view before huffing and walking away from the punch table.

"Hey where are you going?" Ruby asked.

"I'm just getting some air. It's too stuffy in here." Robin answered without looking back at Ruby who stared at Robin's back concerningly, walking past one of the near windows on the wall. Looking out of it into the midsummer night.


The night could also be seen through the open doors to the outdoor balcony. The private space being visible to Jaune once he had walked up the ballroom steps to reach the first floor. He immediately noticed Pyrrha gazing deeply into the night-time sky at the edge of the railing. She couldn't see her face but there was this feeling that she was looking out in desire for something.

Jaune walked forward and came to a stop in the doorway. "Hey, Pyrrha."

Pyrrha turned around to face him. "Hello, Jaune."

Jaune slowly approached his lonely partner. "You okay? I haven't seen you tonight."

Pyrrha turned back to the balcony. "Arrived late, I'm afraid."

"Well, you look really nice."

Pyrrha raised her hand near her mouth. "Thank you."

Jaune nervously stood on his tiptoes with his hands behind his back. "Your uh, date isn't going to beat me up for saying that is he?"

Pyrrha's hand fell away. "I think you're safe for tonight."

Jaune clapped his hands, rubbing them together. "So, where is the guy?"

Pyrrha's head sank in melancholy. "There is no guy."

Jaune chuffed nervously. "W-What?"

Pyrrha shook her head glumly. "Nobody asked me."

"But that's…" Jaune gestured his partner. "You're Pyrrha Nikos!" Jaune shrugged, dumbfounded. "H-How could nobody ask you?"

Pyrrha turned toward the balcony, constantly shifting her eyes all over the place to avoid eye contact. "I've been blessed with incredible talents and opportunities. I'm constantly surrounded by love and praise, but when you're places on a pedestal like that for so long, you become separated from the people that put you there in the first place." She turned back to Jaune. "Everyone assumes I'm too good for them. That I'm on a level they simply can't attain. It's become impossible to form any sort of meaningful relationship with people. That's what I like about you. When we met, you didn't even know my name. You treated me just like anyone else. And thanks to you, I've made friendships that will last a lifetime. I guess, you're the kind of guy I wish I was here with. Someone who just saw me for me."

"…" Jaune was left staring out in astonishment.

With no response, Pyrrha started to dolefully walk back inside to re-join the dance on her own.

Jaune then raised his head and looked behind. "W-Wai-!"

But he was too late to stop her. Pyrrha had already turned around a corner, disappearing from earshot when Neptune appeared to join Jaune on the balcony.

Neptune finger gunned Jaune. "Hey, uh, Jaune, right?"

Jaune sighed. "Yeah."

"This party's pretty lame, huh? I mean, ballroom dancing. Pfft." Neptune mocked.

"Yeah…" Jaune repeated apathetically, looking out over the balcony.

Neptune gestured back to the dance. "Cute girls though, huh?"

Jaune started to growl, turning back to Neptune. "Is that all you think about?"

Neptune raised his palms to his waist in surprise. "Huh?"

"Do you even care about the girls you're hitting on? How they feel about you?"

"Whoa!" Neptune threw his palms up and furrowed his brow. "Where's this coming from?"

Jaune opened his arms wide. "How could you just turn her down like that?"

"Wait, wh-who?"

"Weiss!"

"I, uh…" Neptune looked away from Jaune, rubbing the back of his head. "It, uh…it just didn't work out." Neptune looked back at him. "You know?"

"What? You think that you're too cool, too many other options?" Weiss Schnee asked you to the dance." Jaune pointed at Neptune. "What in the world could possible keep you from go-"

Neptune abruptly looked down in shame. "Can't dance!"

Jaune calmly leaned back. "Beg your pardon?"

Neptune turned his head further away in embarrassment "I can't dance man!"

"But you're…" Jaune gestured his palm at Neptune "So cool!"

Neptune managed to build up enough self-esteem to look back at Jaune. "Thank you. I try really, really hard."

"You would rather break a girl's heart and go to a dance alone than just admit to everyone that you can't move in rhythm to music?"

Neptune shrugged. "That about sums it up, yeah."

"Well…" Jaune turned back around to the balcony. "I certainly feel a lot better about myself."

Neptune raised his palms defensively. "Please don't tell anybody. Look, if you want Weiss, she's all yours. I don't wanna get in your way."

Jaune slowly turned around to face Neptune, sighing as he lent back and placed his palms on the stone banister to steady himself. "Do you like her?"

"Yeah, I mean I don't know her too well yet, but she seems pretty cool."

"Then just go talk to her. No pickup lines, no suave moves, just be yourself." Jaune crossed his arms. "I've heard that's the way to go."

"Yeah, but then-" Neptune raised his hand to speak before getting cut off.

"Hey! You don't have to look cool all the time. In all honesty, if you could be a little less cool, I'd really appreciate it."

Neptune considered Jaune's advice and gave a genuine smile, free from his usual brand of cool. "Yeah, okay."

"Go talk to her. I guarantee it'll make her night."

"Thanks." Neptune started walking forward to Jaune holding his fist out. "You're a really cool guy Jaune."

Jaune approached Neptune. "Alright, don't lie to my face."

The two proceeded to fist bump and Neptune went off to talk to Weiss leaving Jaune alone on the balcony. "Alright, only one thing left to do."

Jaune came back onto the upper tier slowly making his way down. Unbeknownst to him, Emerald and Mercury were also on his level. Privately observing the partying teenagers down below.

Mercury smirked, turning to Emerald. "So, how's the date going?"

Emerald wafted him away. "Don't start. I am not in the mood."

"What's wrong? Isn't this what you wanted when you asked him out?"

"He's just so…needy. Always needing others to tell him to do stuff, I wouldn't be surprised if he couldn't even dress himself on his own at this point." Emerald moaned, unaware of Kai's tie issues.

"Well at least now we know why Ozpin's got a hold of him. He's so helpless he probably wouldn't think of going against him." Mercury "So have you got anything real?"

"I'm…still working on it."

"Well you'd better work on it soon." Mercury gazed over Emerald's shoulder and his eyes opened up slightly. "Speaking of…"

Emerald caught on to Mercury's look and looked behind herself to see Kai walking up to her with a cup of punch in his hand, her mind internally sighing.

"Oh, so that's where you went. Had a feeling you'd be chatting with your team." Kai said before curiously looking at Mercury. "Hey, where's your leader? Didn't she come in with you?"

"You know girls. She noticed one of her fingernails hadn't been polished and she just had to go back to the room and fix it." Mercury walked off, leaving Kai with Emerald. "But never mind that, I'll just leave you two to yourselves."

"But wasn't she wearing gloves?" Kai asked, with Mercury ignoring him and continuing off on his own. "Guess he didn't hear me."

Emerald also watched her partner walk off and took a moment to mentally prepare herself, looking at the punch in Kai's hand. "So, did you bother getting me something or-?"

Kai quickly whipped his head back at Emerald. "Huh? Oh this! No, I got this for you, here!" Kai held the glass out which Emerald took and took a sip from. "So, I've been doing some thinking. We didn't really step off on the right foot, did we? What with you stalking me and me struggling to form complete sentences in front of you."

Emerald moved her lips away from the drink's edge. "I am aware. Believe it or not I was there too."

"But as embarrassing as it is to say...I pretty much acted that awkwardly when I met all of my friends." Kai earnestly looked around the room where he saw Blake dancing with Sun. Next he saw Neptune walking up to an empty seat next to Weiss, which she happily let him sit by. Then he saw Robin close to the front door, ignoring most of the party and just trying to get some air. She even saw Penny dressed up enjoying the festivities, although she was in her own private area of the room with two Atlesian escorts. Finally he looked back up to see over the parallel banister on the other side of the room where he spotted Ruby meeting up with her sister. "Heck one of my friends practically held me at gunpoint before I even had a stable roof over my head."

Emerald went to get another sip when she paused hearing the last of Kai's words. She slowly looked at Kai with a sudden sombre look. "What do you mean you didn't have a roof over your head?"

Kai hesitated for a moment on answering but something about the tone and interest in Emerald's voice made him begin reminiscing on his first three weeks back in Remnant.

"Well when I first arrived in Vale…" Kai paused thinking carefully on how to explain his situation. "Let's just say I had a severe case of bad luck that left me cold, hungry and on the streets. It's not exactly a time I looked back on fondly. I hardly looked like a clean picture of health and some nights…" Kai placed his palm on his stomach. "Some nights I couldn't even sleep right because my stomach felt like it was gnawing me from the inside out. But I had my family with me so I had to smile and make sure they were okay first and foremost."

"Your family?" Emerald asked.

"My Pokémon. You probably think I just use them for fighting but…they mean the world to me. Like if I didn't have them I would just…just…"

"Just died on the street." Emerald finished off solemnly.

Kai calmly looked to her. "Yeah, I guess." Kai looked at his date, her bent posture and the look on his face showing that he unintentionally talked about something deeply personal. "Emerald were you once on the street too?"

Emerald's pupils instinctively shrank. "That's none of your business!" She quickly snapped. Realising her staged look was coming apart, Emerald quickly put a face back on. "I-I mean, that's just such a downer topic. And this is a party, right?"

Kai could tell Emerald was started to panic, almost like she was when he confronted her about her following him. "You're right it's not. I'm sorry. And I'm sorry for making a big deal about what happened to me, I'm sure I don't know what I'm talking about. Although that must make you pretty incredible."

"What do you mean?" Emerald asked curiously.

Kai looked away. "It's nothing. I'm sure whatever wonder you had from seeing me has all but faded at this point."

"Hey, if you're talking about me. I deserve to know how you feel."

"It's just…" Kai turned back to Emerald. "Look where we are right now. Dressed in lavish clothes, attending a ball in one of the most prestigious schools in the world. I certainly didn't expect myself to end up in a place like this and something tells me you didn't either. I'd say in that respect you've come a long way."

Emerald listened intently to Kai's honesty and felt something she rarely felt from anyone. She normally revolted at the mention of optimism and yet from Kai it felt more genuine. He wasn't just some person casually telling her to 'look on the bright side of life' or acting as though the world was a perfect place and all bad incidents were one off occurrences. She could tell both from his words and from spying on his struggles to adjust to the world that his words came from a genuine place. He wasn't blindly happy, he knew how dark the world was but still managed find some light. That made the compliments towards her more sincere and heartfelt, as she felt herself unintentionally becoming more open.

"You're giving me too much credit. I'm only where I am because of Cinder. I owe her everything. She accepted me when no one else would." Emerald admitted.

"Your leader huh? Well to be honest, if it wasn't for Ruby and Professor Ozpin, I doubt I'd be standing here right now either." Kai confessed.

At the mention of Ozpin, Emerald immediately began to press Kai further. "You know the headmaster here? Are you his family or something?"

"Oh no, I just…" Kai took a moment to think. "He saw something in me and decided to give me a chance."

"So, you somehow wowed him with your entrance exam or something."

"To be honest I'm not entirely sure. I assume my team had something to do with it but part of me feels like there's something more he hasn't told me. I don't know." Kai looked down at Ozpin from above seeing him isolated from everyone else at the dance.

Emerald looked over to follow his eyesight. "You sure there wasn't something else. Something he might have let slip."

"I don't think so." Kai looked at Emerald. "Why do you ask?"

Emerald shrugged, content with the knowledge that Kai probably wasn't in Ozpin's inner trust circle At least not yet. "Not particularly, just curious that's all. I'm just wondering if you can pull some strings with him to have us both get perfect scores on these exams coming up at the end of the semester."

Kai leaned back in shock. "What?! I can't do that! And even if I could I-!"

"I was joking. You really do struggle with social cues as much as my teammates." Emerald jokingly judged.

Kai re-adjusted himself in front of Emerald. "Oh, ha ha. This coming from the girl who could only talk to me straight when I practically forced it out of you."

Emerald placed a hand on her hip. "Oh, you're going there. What happened to all that nice stuff you said about me?"

"That's all still true. Just because you also needle me relentlessly doesn't make anything else, I say about you irrelevant."

"Oh wow, you really know how to make a girl feel special." Emerald smirked. "Where's this coming from?"

"Well, being courteous was just awkward and you were the one who wanted to know how I truly felt about you." Kai crossed his arms. "Or did you prefer waiting with me in the cold?"

"Damn! Where did this come from?" Emerald moved her hand away from her hip. "You know you're not what I expected when I first day you?"

"In a bad way or a good way?"

Emerald placed a finger on her bottom lip in thought. "Hmm…Haven't quite decided yet."

"Well that's better than a definitive bad way I guess." Kai sighed in relief, looking Emerald up and down. "Look, I'm sorry I was too nervous around you to say this at the beginning of the night but…you look great tonight."

Emerald looked past to Kai, when her eyes suddenly went wide. "Oh…my God."

Kai suddenly scrunched back up into his awkward self. "I-I didn't mean it that way. I just meant it as a compliment!"

Emerald walked pointed past Kai, to the dance floor. "Oh trust me, it's not my dress you need to be looking at."

Kai was confused at first, when a sudden fit of laughter drew his attention below. Kai turned around and stood beside Emerald to look over the banister where he saw the same thing as her, making his eyes pop. "

Students on the dance floor turned around one by one, where they immediately smirked or busted out laughing at the sight of someone approaching them. They made their way past each of them, paying no mind or heed to their grins or chuckles until they stopped right behind the back of Pyrrha Nikos.

Pyrrha heard the sound of laughter coming from behind her and turned around to see what everyone was giggling at. Looking straight at them with a look of slight disbelief. "Jaune?"

Jaune stood in front of her not in his tux, but in a white strapless dress that was tied around the waist with a blue ribbon.

Jaune awkwardly smiled at her. "Eh, a promise is a promise."

Against her self-control Pyrrha couldn't help but smile at the absurd decision her partner made. Then she couldn't help but giggle. And then she couldn't help but laugh uproariously out loud.

"Jaune! You didn't have to!" Pyrrha explained in-between chuckles.

"Hey, an Arc never goes back on his word. Now do you wanna stand there and laugh at me," Jaune offered up his hand. "Or do you wanna dance?"

Pyrrha offered up her own hand in response. "I would love to dance."

Jaune clasped Pyrrha's hand in his and pulled her in tight, much to her surprise. He swept Pyrrha away onto the dance floor, much to the elation of Nora's elation from the side-lines.

"This. Is Happening!" Nora flailed excitedly.

Ren blankly looked straight ahead in obliviousness. "Wait, what 'is happening'?"

Nora dragged the clueless Ren onto the dance floor and jointed their teammates in the centre of attention. All of Team JNPR suddenly started to dance together, perfectly in sync with each other and the music being played behind them. The improv-to performance captivated the room with many raising their hands to the roof in excitement when the team finished off with Jaune spinning Pyrrha to the side and dancing side by side in pairs.

"I had no idea you were a dancer." Pyrrha said in surprise.

"Yeah, well, these things tend to happen when you grow up with seven sisters." Jaune placed his hand on Pyrrha's waist and dipped her toward the floor before pulling her back up to send her twirling away.

Jaune walked up to her while Weiss and Neptune watched the dancers the edge of the room. Sitting happily together.

"So, what made you change your mind?" Weiss asked.

"Huh?" Neptune responded in confusion.

"You said you were embarrassed at first. What made you come talk to me?"

"You're looking at him." Neptune and Weiss stared at Jaune continuing to dance with Pyrrha right in front of them. "You've got some good friend's looking out for ya."

The dance truly was now in full swing, with everyone getting in on the groove. Jaune and Pyrrha continued to be dance partners as much as they were team partners. Ren and Nora performed together a dance reminiscent of disco. Sun and Blake joined the team performing their own synchronised moves with each other. Even Penny seemed to be getting in on the fun, performing the robot with an Atlas guard chaperone. All of this being observed from above by the only pair not dancing together.

"Wow, that totally didn't seem rehearsed at all." Emerald dryly stated.

"I don't know. As far as unbelievable things happen since joining Beacon, having a close team magically learn to dance in-sync in an instant doesn't really crack the top ten." Kai remarked.

Kai smiled at Jaune dancing with Pyrrha. Two friends just hanging out, having fun at a prom. No forced romantic implications, no awkward missteps or hand placements, just two close people letting off steam like Robin said. Seeing how happy everyone was, Kai couldn't help but grin.

Seeing Kai's face, Emerald matched his grin with her own and extended her palm top him. "Want to join them?"

Kai stared at Emerald's hand blankly. "Um, no offence but I don't think that's a good idea. I've…never really been a dancer."

"Well neither have I. That's not stopping me."

Kai continued looking at Emerald's hand and took a breath before clasping it with his own. Both of their fingers interlocked. Emerald took the initiative by placing her hand around Kai's waist, her hand sneakily positioned close to his back trouser pocket, patiently waiting for a chance to snag it from him.

"For someone who isn't used to dancing, you seem pretty confident." Kai pointed out, while he placed his remaining hand on Emerald's exposed shoulder.

Emerald and Kai started stiffly turn around, both of their feet struggling to move naturally while giving Emerald a chance to sneakily lower the placement of her hand. "Well, it can't be that hard. It's just turning and walking back and forth with someone."

"I guess…This still feels really weird though." Kai nervously admitted, when they both came to a sudden holt when both of them moved their feet in the same direction. "Sorry."

The two turned around shakily again, having Emerald face the wall and Kai towards the balcony. Kai struggled to look at Emerald in close proximity while Emerald remained more focus on the placement of her hands, making her move for Kai's scroll. All she needed was a second, when she raised her hand off Kai's back and prepared to snatch-

"What's your teammate doing?" Kai suddenly interrupted.

Emerald froze, placing her hand quickly back on Kai's back before looking over her own shoulder. She felt her body going stiff when she saw Mercury on his own on the opposite balcony, seemingly talking to himself. With a finger in his ear and his attention distracted.

"I-I'm sure it's nothing. He's probably just waiting for Cinder to come back. He's probably just being weird in the meantime. That's just who he is." Emerald quickly made up.

"But she left a while ago. I don't think fixing a nail should take this long. Besides it looks like he's talking to someone but there's nobody there." Kai suspiciously narrowed his eyes.

'Come to think of it, his fight with Pyrrha also felt off. I thought I was being paranoid before but, maybe something is going on with him?' Kai thought.

Emerald saw Kai focusing on Mercury and knew she had to act fast. Not just to stop Kai from getting suspicious, but if Mercury was talking to who she thought he was talking to, about a certain something happening tonight, then Kai's word could potentially put them all at risk. She realised she had one option, a risky one, but the only viable one she could think of.

"Hey look it's Cinder. I can't believe I didn't see her before. He must have been talking to her." Emerald lied.

Kai stared at the lone Mercury in suspicion. "What do you mean? Your leader's not there, he's all on his own."

"Maybe you should look closer." Emerald suggested, narrowing her eyes at him.

Kai continued looking at Emerald when suddenly, Cinder appeared in his view talking to him. Kai did a double take, as he observed Mercury chatting as before but with Cinder seemingly reacting to what he had to say.

"Do you see her now?" Emerald asked, reaching for Kai's scroll.

"Yeah, but I didn't even see her approach him, she just sort of appeared." Kai's eyes started to relax. "But…maybe I just didn't see her before. Maybe before I was just seeing-"

Emerald swiped Kai's scroll from his back pocket. Less than a second later Kai's eyes suddenly flashed blue.

"AUGH!" Kai cried out.

The music tuned out everyone below from Kai's pain when his eyes went wide. His vision was tinted blue from his Perception for a brief second only to be blinded by what appeared to be green static. As though the world was merely seen through a TV screen, the green static flickered back and forth with Kai's Perception in flashes of green and blue. Coincidentally Emerald's eyes soon widened, placing her hand on her forehead's temple in pain. Her concentration on Kai was broken, at the same time the green static from Kai's vision faded completely before his Perception subsided.

Kai placed his hand over his face, slowly breathing to steady himself. "Was that my Perception? If it was…then why was I seeing all that green stuff?"

"Hey, Kai are you alright?" Emerald asked. She recovered from her earlier kneejerk reaction and kept her hands, and Kai's scroll, behind her back. "What just happened with you?"

"I-I'm not sure…" Kai removed his hand from his face and looked over to the other side of the room, seeing Mercury had gone. "Just…got overwhelmed for a moment I guess?"

"Look if you're not feeling good. I don't mind if you need to leave." Emerald suggested, tightening her grip on Kai's scroll.

Kai turned back to Emerald. "No…I'm fine now sorry. I guess being so close to someone as nice-looking as you just were a bit too much for a moment there."

"Nice-looking?" Emerald repeated.

"Well…" Kai almost felt himself go stiff when he quickly remembered Robin and Ruby's advice and Jaune and Pyrrha's dance. Relaxing immediately. "Yeah, you are nice-looking. No, more than that. Tonight…you look amazing. Look I'm not exactly looking for a…casual or serious relationship. But," Kai offered up his hand. "I wouldn't be against…dancing with a new friend."

"Wait, you seriously want to keep going even after being so uncomfortable around me all night?" Emerald responded in suspicion.

"Well we've already come this far in the night. It would be wrong to not see it through to the end. Besides…it's not been all bad hanging out with you. So, why don't we see where this goes? If you want to that is." Kai sincerely asked.

Emerald paused to really think about Kai's offer. 'If she wanted to', unlike with Cinder she was given the option to choose. If she refused, Kai would leave her alone and she could try and crack his scroll for more information. If she stayed, she could keep an eye on him and see if she could learn more from his own mouth…and maybe enjoy herself tonight too.

Emerald discreetly distracted Kai by taking his hand, his sight and touch from the gesture keeping him from noticing Emerald returning the scroll to his pocket. "Sure, maybe this time though you follow my lead."

Kai put his hand on her shoulder once again. "I'm pretty sure following your lead is what made me almost have a panic attack just now."

"Oh, so you're blaming me for that now?"

"I mean I'm not, not blaming you." Kai awkwardly pushed aside the question as the two slowly started to dance by themselves.

However, this time was different. This time, Kai finally stopped holding reservations and just moved without holding himself back. And Emerald no longer focused solely on stealing information from Kai, but to just continue remaining close to him. Both of them unknowingly moving much easier and starting to feel comfortable enough to look each other in the eye.

The two of them danced without a care in the world, being watched from afar by Mercury standing in the middle of the stairs.

"Mercury, report!" Cinder demanded via an earpiece.

Mercury stuck his fingers in his ears. "We're fine. The trainer just got a little too excited for a moment. Emerald's sorted it though. Speaking of-" Mercury scanned the ballroom. "It appears all the dancers have partners."

"How long do I have?" Cinder asked.

"You should probably be home by midnight, to be safe." Mercury answered.

Through the earpiece his voice travelled and came out the other end of an identical earpiece being worn by Cinder. She was crouched on one of the dorm rooftops around the Beacon campus, being covered by the shroud of night and the same black infiltration suit and mask that she wore when she checked in with Mable's sub-group of Team Flare.

"I'll have to keep my eye on the clock." She responded.


The moonlit night was not reserved just for Cinder that night. Robin was also currently stationed outside the ballroom, taking in the cool night air. She stared up at Remnant's fractured moon, frowning at it as though it was mocking her. Despite making the effort to come out tonight the ball had been as big a disappointment as everything else on Remnant so far, all it did was remind her of the stakes of getting back to Kalos. That home was the only place she could get rid of these new feelings inside of her.

Robin was ready to head back inside when something caught her eye in the distance. A strange black figure on a distant rooftop, jumping from building to another. Robin squinted her eyes to make sure she wasn't seeing things when something about her finally clicked in Robin's head.

"Is that…?" Robin gasped for air remembering the black masked woman trying to kill her all those weeks ago. "But here? How did-?" Robin shook her head. "No. That doesn't matter. What matters is making sure I don't stumble again."

Robin clicked her heels under her dress to skate off, only for her to nearly trip as she dragged her dress pumps across the ground. Robin clenched her teeth and withheld a grunt as when she started running off toward the buildings. Just as Cinder leaped off a rooftop in the direction of Beacon's tower.


Slowly and sneakily, Cinder arrived outside of Beacon's CCT system. She hugged a nearby wall to the left of the entrance, carefully peaking around the corner to see a single Atlesian guard blocking the way in. Cinder swiftly dashed through the open area in front of the building, grabbing the attention of the guard who heard the sound of air blowing but only caught the sight of a black blur. The guard slowly stepped forward in suspicion leaving him open to Cinder sneaking up behind him, delivering a quick knife-hand to the back of his helmet. The metal clanged and the soldier's mouth dumbly went open, the strike instantly knocking him out and making him collapse into Cinder's arms. The guard's arms went limp, making him drop his weapon just before a set of bushes that Cinder quickly tossed him into before setting her sights on the front door.

Inside two guards covered both sides of the main elevator, with two more covering the front and back, walking in a circular motion around the lower level. Cinder calmly walked in, attracting one of the lower guards at the bottom of the stairs.

"Excuse me. No one's allowed in this area." The guard explained, while Cinder continued walking up to him without hesitation. "Stop!"

The guard reached for his weapon when Cinder ran into a sprint. The Atlesian soldier pulled out a pistol and began shooting at Cinder's feet. Each bullet managed to miss her, allowing her to get up close and overpower him by grabbing his arm. Cinder's attention was caught by the second lower guard coming at her with a baton, which she stopped by kicking him away and pulling the trigger on the first guard's gun to take him out. The second guard collapsed to the ground allowing Cinder to kick the first onto their knee and toss them against the handrail on the stairs.

The two upper guards finally moved from their post, pulling out baton's and leaping down the stairs toward Cinder. Cinder twirled in place, heating up the Dust on her black suit to form a pair of black glass blades which she used to parry and slash the guards. She knocked the first of the remaining guards away, slashing at the remaining guard and sweeping his legs to leave him grounded. Cinder raised her blades to block a series of baton wings from the remaining guard, blocking a knee strike and elbowing him in the face, shoving him away in an expansion of heat and delivering a flipping heel kick to the head to knock him out.

Cinder looked around to see the coast was clear and moved on to the main elevator itself. Inside of which were the final two guards in the building standing side by side, unaware that their comrades had been taken out.

The one on the left turned to his partner, gesturing his hand to get their attention. "Hey man, do you know the Wi-Fi password?"

"It's Beacon, but replace the e with a three, and add a pound symbol to the end." The guard answered.

The elevator doors suddenly opened putting the guards on edge when they saw a mysterious masked girl waiting in front of them. Even more so when they noticed the rest of the guards lying sprawled out all over the floor. Cinder casually walked inside just before the doors closed. Followed immediately after by the sounds of muffled thrashing.

Outside Robin arrived, running up to the front of the building. She slowed down and cautiously walked up to the building, darting her eyes left and right for any sign of her mysterious attacker. She was ready to accept she had just imagined things and head back to the party when she saw something that made her go tense. The outside guard from before knocked out, just in front of the bushes.

"I knew it." Robin hissed reaching for her hip when she grasped at air realising that her Pokéball pouch wasn't on her, and neither was her scroll. Robin gritted her teeth, and clenched her fist. "No…" Her fist began to glow and grow heavy with her semblance. "I won't let another chance fall through my fingers again."

With no Pokémon and no backup, Robin instinctively ran into the CCT building just missing the sounds of heels clopping into the area. A sudden gasp came out of a stranger's mouth, soon followed by the loud flying and crash landing of a rocket locker.

The elevator doors opened on the main communications floor with Cinder being the only one left inside standing.

She examined a scroll in her hand. "Hmm, that's handy."

Cinder snapped the scroll shut and placed it in her back pocket. She walking out the elevator, leaving the two passed out guards alone when it closed behind her. Cinder continued walking up to the control console where she sat behind a holographic screen and keyboard. She started tapping the keyboard, entering some kind of information when she looked up, hearing the sound of the elevator coming up. Cinder scowled, pausing what she was doing and hid under behind the desk.

"A party guest is leaving." Mercury said into her earpiece.

Cinder sighed. "Which one?

In the ballroom Mercury stood alone at the punch ball looking toward the front doors. "Ironwood." At the front Ironwood walked slowly out of the door with his hands behind his back, with Ozpin seeing him off. "I guess the General's had enough fun for one night. Should I intervene?"

In the CCT the elevator door opened making Cinder suddenly stop typing. She hid behind the desk and heated up her suit in preparation for an ambush when the door opened and she heard…nothing. Cinder carefully peered over the side of the control console where she saw only the two guards she had knocked out. Everywhere else inside she could see was clear.

Cinder calmly got back up and placed a finger in her earpiece, going back to her seat. "No…I'll be done in a minute."

Cinder continued tapping on the screen, turning her attention away from the elevator. Inside of which one guard lay against the left wall, the second guard lay on the right, the back wall was clear…but spread out on the ceiling of the elevator was Robin, using her semblance to keep herself there. Robin's stretched her legs, letting her upside down upper half watch Cinder furiously tapping away. She tightened her fists and shifted gravity to that she could stand against the back wall causing her to fall back. She landed on her feet with her pumps making contact with the metal, creating a quietly clanging sound.

Cinder prepared to enter what she had written when she looked up, gasping at the sight of Robin bending her legs as she shifted gravity, falling straight at Cinder. Cinder quickly ducked, making Robin fall right past her and land against the windows at the back of the room.

Cinder quickly stepped back up and snarled at Robin. "On second thought…make that five minutes."

Robin placed her palm on the window, frowning at Cinder. "Okay, who the hell are you and how are you involved with Team Flare?!"

Cinder didn't respond and held her tongue. As much as she wanted to toy with Robin, now that they had met in person, she couldn't risk her cover being blown. She glanced over at the holographic screen on the control panel, seeing lines of random code she had yet to type and enter. She really couldn't afford to toy with Robin this time.

Robin took Cinder's silence as and insult and her aura flared. "Not talking? Fine! But let's see if you can keep up against someone who hasn't suffered from dehydration!"

Robin fell even faster than previously toward Cinder, who flared her suit up to create another pair of blades that she crossed in front of herself, slicing them at Robin's approaching head like a pair of scissors. Reacting quickly, Robin shifted her gravity upward, somersaulting over the cross slash feeling the heat of Cinder's blades on the back of her neck.

Robin continued falling upward, placing her left hand and foot out to break her fall against the ceiling. Pushing herself off she moved her gravity again to come at Cinder from a downward diagonal angle, using her refined hips as a roller-skater to swing her leg out from under her dress. Cinder rolled to the side to dodge, with Robin's dive kick hitting the floor instead. Cinder swung her right blade at Robin, who twisted while shifting gravity to increase the momentum on a forward stepping kick that knocked the blade out of Cinder's hand. Her momentum continues a spin kick, which Cinder used her left forearm to block. Punching Robin in the face to have her stumble and undo her semblance, then slashing her waist with her remaining super-heated blade.

Robin was shoved back, placing a hand on her stomach when Cinder followed up with a spinning kick to the side of her head, knocking her onto the floor. Robin's head felt like it was spinning and not just from the amount of times she changed her gravity. Cinder looked down at the trainer with a blade gestured at her neck, taking a moment to consider her options before turning her back on the trainer. She went back to the panel when she felt something grab her leg. Cinder looked back down in shock to see Robin clutching onto her with an even more fired up expression.

"Don't you dare turn your back on me!" Robin's gripped tightened and her body began to fall up toward the ceiling, dragging Cinder by the leg up with her.

Cinder's arms flailed wildly in the air, unbale to get her bearings until Robin's dress loafer's hit the ceiling and they both came to a stop. Cinder raised her black glass blade to cut Robin's hand when Robin pre-emptively let her go, making the natural gravity drag her down kicking and screaming. While Cinder fell Robin intensified her own gravity, stretching her arms to the side and planting both her feet firmly behind her.

'My roller-skating skills might be good for manoeuvrability but I can't rely on them as a fighting style. And after that last stunt, she's probably not going to give me another opening.' Robin's weight continued to intensity making the ceiling begin crack under her pressure. 'I need to overpower her and hit her full force! In one-blow!'

Cinder looked up to see Robin perched and glaring down on her. She may have been named after a meek bird but right now, she looked more like a bird of prey, ready to strike.

"I'M TAKING YOU DOWN!" Robin screeched.

Robin transferred her gravity from above her to below her in an instant, dropping down over Cinder in nearly an instant, raising her left heel up to her head. With little time to react, Cinder grabbed one of the Dust vials on her suit and pulled it off, superheating it in her hands. The small vial exploded, blowing Cinder up and launching her backward just in time to avoid Robin's heel coming down on top of her. Her fall continued and Robin smashed her foot against the floor of the communications room, shattering the immediate area on impact and forming a wide crater.

Cinder went wide eyed at the strength Robin exhibited in that single crushing blow, when the force of the impact spread. Making the entire CCT shake as though a tremor had gone off underneath it, making the monitors shake and spark, the sudden movement messing with their interior systems and shutting them off. Cinder rolled across the ground, once the shaking had stopped and pushed herself back onto her feet. She looked around the room in a panic to see each of the individual communication stalls shaken up in some way, but paled when she saw the main centre.

The green holographic screen flickered on and off with the typed code Cinder had entered before turning off completely. The inputs unsaved, their contribution not added, and her mission became a failure. And in front of her was the cause of it. Robin lay on the ground with her left leg stretched out and her body quivering. She winced as she tried to move, with every muscle and bone in her body aching.

"Crap…I've never put that much force on myself at one time…Let alone shifting it from one direction to another so quickly." Robin groaned. "My body feels too stiff…it won't budge…"

Cinder's growled under her breath, heating her outfit up to manifest a black glass bow, with three black glass arrows pulled against it. She aimed it directly at Robin who could only watch as her body failed to move her out of harm's way. Cinder released her grip, sending the three arrows her way when three bullets pierced the air to hit the arrowheads mid-air, making them blow up mid-flight.

Cinder and Robin looked back towards the elevator, where Ruby stood triumphantly with Crescent Rose's barrel smoking.

"When I saw you run off, I thought something was wrong. Looks like I was-" Ruby took a step forward only to lose balance on her heels and nearly trip up, catching herself just in time. "Ahem. Looks like I was right."

Robin calmly took a breath and reengaged her semblance, floating up to the ceiling. "I may not be able to move my body, but my semblance still works. At least up here I won't be in the way."

"Got it." Ruby acknowledged slowly walked forward to Cinder, something about here feeling oddly familiar. "Excuse me? You know it's not a masquerade party, so why don't you take off that-!"

Cinder grabbed a vial of Dust before Ruby could finish, spreading it out in front of her and heating it into clear glass. She thrust her palm forward into the crystallised rock releasing a pulse of aura to propel the shards at Ruby. Ruby gaped at the surprise attack, twirling her scythe in front of her to protect herself and shatter the glass before it hit her.

Ruby pulled on her weapon's trigger sending round after round into Cinder, who carefully used her blocked each one with the palm of her hand. Their impact heating up her infiltration suit with energy. She twirled in place, heating up her black bow to reshape it back into twin blades, prompting Ruby to shoot her weapon to close the gap between them and swing her Scythe's blade down in front of her.

Cinder backflipped to dodge, then jumped back into the air to re-heat her weapon to become a bow again with three more arrows. She heated the arrows up and let them loose, blowing up the ground in front of Ruby in a fiery explosion that made Ruby stumble back, anchoring her weapons blade into the ground to stop herself.

Cinder came back down to the ground, looking up in frustration at Robin and Ruby foiling her plans when the sound of an approaching elevator made her frown. Ruby and Robin heard it too, turning their heads toward the door to see them opening, revealing General Ironwood. Ironwood stared into the room with a serious look, with Ruby embracing the backup with a smile, looking back around with Robin to face Cinder when her expression fell into one of confusion.

Robin looked down to see Cinder had suddenly vanished, disappearing in the brief moment they looked away. Leaving nothing left but the shattered remains of the room, left by her fight with Robin and Ruby.

Robin clenched her teeth. "Damnit! Where'd she go?!"


In a dark hallway, Cinder discarded two bracelets around her wrists and the mask off her face. Coating herself in strange gold runes, and her body illuminating itself in a bright golden light. It faded to reveal her outfit had changed, back into her black dress that she wore when she entered the dance. She pushed open the doors to enter another room, exiting the hallways just as two Atlesian guards pushed their way in. The guards quickly made their way through the hall, unknowingly stepping on a black glass mask. They flung the doors open to have found themselves in Beacon's ballroom, surrounded on all sides by dozens of students all enjoying themselves in ignorance of the attempted CCT attack.

With no sign of the mysterious intruder anywhere the two guards were reluctantly turned back, leaving through the same hallway they came through. In the middle of the dancing couples, Mercury stood alone with his hands in his pocket, lazily glancing over the ballroom. A black gloved hand tapped him on the shoulder and he turned to see Cinder right behind him, with an exhausted look on her face.

"Hey, what happened? You radio went quiet." Mercury asked, wrapping his hands in Cinder's to camouflage themselves as dancing couples.

"The mission…was a failure." Cinder whispered. "The damn trainer broke the control terminal before I could finish inputting the code."

"What?" Mercury gaped, looking around the room. He looked up to see Kai chatting with Emerald on the upper level, the two of them looking quite happy. In Emerald's case, oddly genuinely. "The trainer's right there. Emerald's been picking him for information all night."

"Not him. The girl." Cinder groaned. "And not just her, the girl who tried to stop me and Torchwick swooped in at the last moment to save her."

Mercury looked seriously at Cinder. "Should we be worried?"

Cinder paused, for the first time she actually had to consider if her plans were falling apart. "…No. I kept quiet, and neither of them said or did anything that hinted at them knowing who I was."

"So then what now?"

"Now, we do all we can…enjoy the rest of the night." Cinder was spun around in Mercury's arms, getting a clear view of Kai. "But rest assured Mercury, these trainers…"

A bell suddenly began to sound off. Each chime being heard by different people in different parts of the academy. Jaune and Pyrrha at a table. Sun and Blake dancing. Greninja in the trainer's dorm playing cards with Aegislash, with Chesnaught in the back observing how they played. The guards outside the CCT having to explain just what happened to each other. And on the floor of the communications floor of the CCT where Ironwood walked up to a disappointed Ruby and an aching, frustrated Robin as the twelfth bell tolled for Midnight.

"Won't be able to hide behind Ozpin forever."


And with that the Beacon Dance arc is over! Bet you didn't see that ending coming did you? It seems between stopping Cinder's hacking and capturing Torchwick on the night of the Investigation, the inclusion of our Pokémon Trainer's is starting to meddle with the enemy's plans much more thoroughly than in the cannon. I wonder how far either side will go?

I hope you all enjoyed this adaption, it's been quite some time since I had to use the original material so I hope I did enough to provide a familiar yet unique enough experience.

So until next time this is Kallerston, signing out!